This article first appeared on the website theheritageportal.co.za on 10 November 2015 and was reprinted in my book Stories of Potchefstroom that was published in 2018. This is an article in the series on the declared heritage sites of Potchefstroom.
About two decades after the first Voortrekkers came to the Mooi River valley, they were followed by itinerant traders, some of whom were English speaking. The emigrants were mostly farmers and in need of the wares that the traders were selling.
Two of these English families, the Stamps and the family of AC Ricketts, arrived in Potchefstroom around 1859 from Graaff-Reinet. They later played an important role in the church life.
Dr Edward Twells, bishop of the Anglican Church in the Free State, visited the Mooi River area in 1862 and held the first English service here.
The first deacon, Mr W Richardson, was appointed on Christmas day 1865. He arrived in Potchefstroom in June 1866 to serve the 60 members of the church. The first service he held was on 26 June 1866. At first a disused store was used as a place of worship. The first churchwardens were T Ayres, C Ricketts and the sidemen, J Hartley and J Ayres. Thomas Ayres (1828-1913) later became known worldwide as a naturalist, but died in poverty in his house in Sol Plaatjie Avenue.
Geoffrey Jenkins writes in A Century of History: “On the 31st of the following month appeared a notice of ‘English Church, Transvaal Mission’ at Potchefstroom. Appreciation was tendered for the united efforts which enabled premises to be bought. A bazaar was announced to assist the Building Committee in the erection of the first English Church in the Transvaal. Mrs Pretorius, wife of the President, was patroness and the other members of the committee for receiving donations comprised of Mrs A Forssman, Mrs B Poortman and Mrs AM Goetz.”
Foundation stone laid by Pres MW Pretorius
The foundation stone of the first building of St Mary’s Church was laid by President Pretorius on 25 March 1867. Bishop Twells attended and also blessed the building.
The first church was erected at 166 Church Street (Walter Sisulu). Later the Standard Bank was built on the street, slightly in front of the church.
The first St Mary’s Anglican Church stood at 166 Church Street. It was built in 1867 and demolished after the Second Boer War. This photograph appeared in the promotional booklet Beautiful Potchefstroom, published by the Potchefstroom Herald in 1913.
When Mrs Anna Palk drew a map of Potchefstroom in 1881, to show the town at the time of the Siege of the Fort, she added this miniscule drawing of the church. Source: Potchefstroom Museum
The building had seating for 80 congregants, had a high thatched roof, lancet windows and a mud floor. The building cost was £450. All buildings in Potchefstroom, at the time, had floors made from cow dung, polished with ox blood.
The Wesleyan Church, which was built in 1870’s in the vicinity of where the Impala Hotel is today, caused a sensation when a wooden floor was installed. Jenkins wrote: “Farmers coming into town for marketing went to see the object of so much comment, before returning home. Until they had seen they could not and would not believe. ‘Wood is much too valuable for floors,’ they would declare, ‘people do not walk on wood, they use it to make tables, chairs and wagons.’”
Mud floor interrupts service
The Anglican congregation had their own challenges with the mud and dung floor of their church. It is said that during the rainy season the legs of the church pews on which the congregants were sitting during a service would slowly sink into the soft mud floor. Everybody then had to get up and some strong men would have to extract the pew from the mud before the service could continue.
Thus, the building of a more sturdy and suitable church building became the goal and the congregation continuously sought funds. Reverend Richardson travelled as far as Kimberley and Pretoria to raise funds.
The original building of the Standard Bank stood at 166 Walter Sisulu Avenue. The first St Mary’s is visible right behind this. This photograph was taken on 7 November 1900 and appeared in the Potchefstroom Herald on 29 August 1969. The staff of the bank were FGJ King, manager, TJP Welch, accountant and PA Rainer, clerk.
Will in handkerchief
When the Swede, John Eduard Mouberg, died on May 10 1871, his will was found tied up in a handkerchief. He left his entire estate to the “English Episcopal Church”. This comprised of three plots in Rivier Street and movable property valued at £250, in total £1 000.
This enabled the church to acquire property for a new church building and the current plot, now on Auto Avenue, was bought. The present St Mary’s was designed by John George Crone and built by Augustus Falconer. The foundation stone was laid on 25 March 1890.
The church was built from stones quarried in the Ventersdorp-Lichtenburg area. According to Arie Kuijers in Potchefstroom 1838–1988, the building of the church coincided with a period of growth and prosperity in Potchefstroom. “This Anglican church building, a hall church like its predecessor, is a typical English church in a simplified Gothic idiom.”
In August 1890, when the walls were almost complete, the chancel arch collapsed. This led to the resignation of Crone, together with some members of the building committee. At the time £3 400 had been spent, but the building was still unfinished. John William Gaisford, a local architect connected with the church for over 40 years, came to the rescue and the building was completed.
An opening service was held on 14 June 1891 without a ceiling and without the interior walls being plastered. It was consecrated by Bishop Bousfield. At the time the church only had about 85 members. Both ceiling and walls were completed in 1897.
John William Gaisford was the first person to act as an architect in Potchefstroom. Gaisford stepped in after the original architect of St Mary’s resigned. He also worked on the design of the stock exchange building, which stood on the corner of Church and Lombard Street and housed the Lyric theatre in 1903. He also designed residential buildings and the Armenschool (school for the poor). Gaisford was also the architect-in-residence for the church building of the Dutch Reformed Mooi River congregation. Photo: http://www.artefacts.co.za/main/Buildings/archframes.php?archid=557
Congregants leaving a service at St Mary’s Anglican in the early years of the 20th century. Note the gardens next to the church. Photo: August D’Ange D’Astre
When Miss Farnsworth, housekeeper of Captain Hugh Baillie, who farmed in the area east of the town, died, she willed money to the church, which was used to build a rectory. To this Captain Baillie added £250 and the rectory was completed in 1896.
During the war of 1899 to 1902 the rector, Reverend Roberts, remained in Potchefstroom for a good part of the war, although the church was closed. Shortly after this War the original church in Church Street was bought by Carl Olën, also a Scandinavian, and demolished. Olen founded a transport business, which was conducted from Olen Yard, now known as Olen Lane. The plot on which the first church stood was adjacent to this.
The influx of British soldiers after the Second Boer War swelled the membership of the church to 500 in 1910.
One of the famous members of the church was the Olympian marathon runner KK McArthur. He won the Olympic marathon in 1912 in Stockholm in Sweden. His wedding to Joey Louw, on 4 May 1921, took place in St Mary’s.
As a memorial to the soldiers who died in World War 1, a Church Hall was built and opened on 23 October 1922 by HRH Prince Arthur, the Governor General of the Union of South Africa.
St Mary’s is known for its beautiful stained-glass windows. The generosity of Mr Ricketts in 1929 made the installation of the first three windows possible. In 1945 further windows were added and the last was installed in 1987.
Stained-glass windows installed in St Mary’s to commemorate the soldiers of the parish who died during the Second World War.
In 1944 J Gaisford left the church £500, which was used to install a new floor and doors. The Church bought part of the carpet used for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth in 1952, which symbolises the strong ties the church has with England.
The Potchefstroom Herald reported on 30 March 1951 that St Mary’s celebrated its diamond jubilee during Easter, the previous weekend. New pews were installed to mark the occasion.
Due to its poor condition, the original rectory was demolished in 1964 and a new one was built.
By 1982 the church had 300 members.
The church was declared a provincial heritage site in 14 June 1991.
St Mary’s celebrated its 150th year in 2016. A church organ from England, dating from the same period as the church, was acquired early in 2015. The church then undertook a large fundraising initiative to restore, transport and install this organ in time for the festivities.
St Mary’s, as it appeared in 2016.
By 2022 the congregation battled the changing times. When St Mary’s was first built, it stood in an area surrounded by the back gardens of the properties fronting on Church, Lombard, Potgieter and Berg Street. The area around the church changed over time and in 2022 an article appeared in the Potchefstroom Herald (29 September) about the woes the church was suffering.
Homeless people camped outside the church making it difficult for churchgoers to enter. Photos accompanying this article shows people sleeping on the pavement next to the church with makeshift tents draped over the palisade fence across the street. Apart from this, a water leak went unfixed for months which made the maintenance of the gardens virtually impossible.
Attempts to contact a representative of the church to ascertain the current situation were unsuccessful.
